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I’m not a fan of celebrating holidays. The whole thing just seems like too much work. Spending a bunch of money buying decorations, searching tirelessly for ingredients and competing with other consumers for the last ham at the grocery store, cooking a ton of food, and having a messy house all for just a few short hours. Still, it wasn’t until this past Christmas that I realized just how important celebrating something is. Having a child leads me to revalue the joy and togetherness that holidays bring into our lives. Simply because we are alive, well and happy to have each other. It doesn’t have to be one of the traditional holidays, but it should be something that is important to our family. I’d like for my son to have fond memories of a special day that we got together and did something fun for a good cause. So we’re starting our own traditions!

Mommy Can LearnEarth Day is this Friday and while it isn’t a homemade holiday, what better reason to celebrate than the solitary planet that homes us and provides us with food, water, and air! Here are 3 ways that we can do a little good for our planet that does so much for us.

Teaching your kids about sustainable living

Reading books to kids is the best way to teach them about, well anything! Learning about the importance of sustainable living is a great way to get kids involved and thinking about preserving our planet at an early age. And once kids take an interest in something new, they’ll be sure to remind us to do our part as well. Here are 4 great books to get started:

I am not a crafty person by any means. Despite my lack of talent in this area, I managed to make a pretty awesome felt board for my toddler. I’ve seen some pretty snazzy felt boards out there, but who has the time or money for some extravagant project? Am I going to get a Mother of the Week Award for the best crafts? Nope. Nuh huh. I’d be lucky to get a thank you (although his smile said it all). So I’ve streamlined this process to make it easier, cheaper, less time-consuming and not as boring as you’d think. Everything that I used came from the Dollar Store with the exception of the felt, which came from Michael’s.

Here are the tools you’ll need:

White felt $8 (the board is 39×27 inches so I’d say about 1.5 yards per side)

Color felt $5

Tri-fold presentation board (x2) $2

Packing/duck tape $1

Fabric glue $1

Googly eyes $1

Glitter pen (optional) $1

Scissors

A few pieces of paper and a pencil (optional)

Music, wine, dessert (see it’s more fun already!)

Step 1: Tape the backs of each tri-fold together across the top and bottom. Leave the flaps free. This will make the board sturdier and able to stand upright alone.

Step 2: Glue the fabric along the edges of each side of the board. Make sure to get it as flat and taut as possible. Cut off the excess felt. If you have 2 kids playing at once, then you’ll probably want to do both sides.

You’re halfway done!

Step 3: Turn on your music, pour your wine and get comfy at the table. Pace yourself! You are using scissors and you wouldn’t want to bleed on your felt. That would turn this into a $30 felt board and I’m trying to keep the costs down. Thank you very much!

Step 4: Wild card! At this point, you can get as funky, wacky or simple as you’d like while cutting out the designs of your dreams. At first, I wanted to do shapes because that’s what we were currently learning (and my skill level was at triangles), but then I really started getting into it! I worked at night so my toddler was asleep and Mister was… well, I don’t know what he was doing because I was so zoned into my project.

BONUS: An easy way to get fancy with your designs is to draw them on paper, cut the design out and lay it over the felt. Trace the design and cut the felt. Simple.

If you want to make a person and clothes, draw an outline of your person, fold it in half length-wise so that it is symmetrical and cut it out. Then place a piece of paper over the cut-out and trace an outline of the body to make whatever kind of clothes you want.

Step 5: Present the felt board to your child and play with them!

So there you have it folks! The easiest, cheapest felt board that will make your toddler think you are a rockstar. You’re welcome ;-). This board conveniently folds up to fit into a closet or behind a bookshelf for easy storage. If you really enjoyed this project or you’d like to get a little more imaginative with it, you can make cut-outs for each season, numbers, letters, shapes, animals or any other learning activities and separate them into sandwich bags to keep them organized. This would also make an awesome homemade present.

I always thought that if you’re a mom, then you must be a creative person. That being a mini Martha Stewart is innate in all women and finally reveals itself when you become a mom. Baking cupcakes with perfect frosting designs, dazzling glittery crafts, and flawlessly sewn costumes are a part of the job. I thought that when I became a mom my fairy godmother would sprinkle star dust on me and I would summon the creative spirit of Martha; the Holy Grail of Creativity.

Um… no. That did not happen. In fact, the opposite seems to be my reality. I can barely cook, I cannot sew more than 2 inches of fabric without it looking like a zig zag and I am actually quite awful at crafts. I am not kidding. I suck at crafts. It looks pretty easy – draw a few lines, make a few cut-outs, paste them together, sprinkle on some glitter and BOOM! Masterpiece. My kid would look up to me in awe, my friends would ask me to help with their kids school projects and I’d be the LeBron James of crafts. A little exaggerated yes, but that is kind of what I had in mind. Instead, I scour Pinterest for the easiest looking crafts and pretend to know what I’m doing when I sit my son down.

I see many pictures of people doing crafts with their toddlers and they looks so jolly and neat. I am convinced that those pictures are lies. All lies. Maybe the parent finishes the crafts, then brings the kid in for a picture or maybe they have a team to help. Either way, there is nothing neat or gleeful about doing crafts with toddlers. My son touched everything that I asked him not to touch, he constantly knocked things off the table, he got upset with me that I put a puff ball on MY flower, and he was intent on using the glue – which ended up on my shirt and on his face. Needless to say, I was exhausted after we were done.

So I’ll tell you what I did learn about doing crafts with toddlers: stop being so uptight and follow my child’s creative process. This experience was harder on me because I kept trying to make it perfect, while he just wanted to have fun. So what if what he was messy or if his flower looked like Quasimodo? It is more important for him to be creative in his own way than for my standards to be met. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll teach me a thing or two about creativity.

What is your experience doing crafts with your kids? Leave a comment below!

About Mommy

Hey There! My name is Angela and I have been married for 7 years to my high school sweetheart. We have an awesome baby boy and a 6 year old doberman. I am a stay-at-home wife and mother that is learning the ropes about all things parenting, homemaking and natural living. I hope to learn from experienced parents, inspire new parents and share my journey with all who come to read :-).

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